News

Matt Flynn Training Camp Media Session July 27

QB Matt Flynn spoke to the media after his second training camp practice as a member of the Raiders.

On the first two days of practice:

Flynn: “I think, as a whole, it’s going pretty well so far. We’re starting to get our legs back under us a little bit and it always seems like no matter how much you’ve been working out in the summer, once you start playing football again, it’s all different; everyone gets sore and that’s one of those things where we’re fighting through that right now, but so far it’s been good.”

On the camp atmosphere compared to Seattle’s:

Flynn: “It’s hard to say. [Seahawks Head] Coach [Pete] Carroll was definitely a different personality than any other coach I’ve ever had. He was all over the place a little bit, in a good way, really relaxed and joked around a lot, but every coach has his own personality, his own style, and I’ve been under a lot of good ones.”

On the receiving corps:

Flynn: “It’s good. I stayed in contact with all the guys over the summer and kind of challenged them when they left minicamp and said, ‘Let’s come back on our first day of training camp and not look for there to be a drop off from our last day of minicamp.’ I think I saw that a lot of guys had worked hard, they’d studied their playbook, they’d gotten in their notes, and I was really impressed with the knowledge that everybody came back with.”

On his chemistry with the receivers:

Flynn: “I think it’s coming. It’s not there yet, but one thing I do know is that we have a very talented offense, very talented. We have a lot of guys out there that can make plays, run routes, [and] now it’s all about getting all of that to come together. We have a lot people doing one thing good but maybe someone else [inaudible], something like that. The chemistry is not completely there yet, but it’s coming, and once that all meshes together, I’m really excited about what we could do as an offense because, like I said, we have a lot of talent.”

On his comfort in the offense:

Flynn: “I’m comfortable with it. I’m working every day to get more and more comfortable. I’m studying my playbook now as much as I did the first day I got here. I’m trying to be just be fluent with it all the way through. Right now I have all the terminology and everything down, now it’s about repetitions on the field, repetitions in practice, repetitions with guys. Right now, it’s coming but it’s not there yet, so we’re going to keep working on that.”

On building chemistry during training camp:

Flynn: “Yeah, for sure. We’re still, right now, in the beginning of training camp, the first week. The first week is always a grind: at practices, it’s hot, it’s the first time back, everyone’s working through that soreness in their legs, everyone’s trying to get back into the groove of things. Tomorrow’s our first day in pads, so there’s going to be a little bit of extra soreness after tomorrow, but we’re still installing as well, so once we get through that installation period ... We’re not scouting against their defense right now, we’re just running plays, trying to install the plays, trying to get everybody comfortable with lining up, getting motions down. Once we get everything installed and everyone’s comfortable, then we can work on everyone coming together and really trying to take those steps up the ladder, because you can’t make those steps without everybody knowing everything. That’s just what happens when you get a new [offensive] coordinator, everyone’s learning a completely new offense, so you have to go through those kinds of growing pains.”

Flynn: “Jacoby is explosive, fast and extremely talented. He’s a weapon, when healthy, that we need to find a way to utilize whatever way we can, whether it’s running routes, handoffs, whether it’s whatever, we have to find a way to utilize that speed and his quickness and everything he does, that explosion getting into the open field. We will start doing that. Like I said, it’s still the point where everyone’s running every route, and installation and all that kind of stuff, but once we get going into it I’m sure we’ll find ways to get him the ball.”

On starting camp sharp:

Flynn: “I was really impressed and proud of the way everybody came back. I kind of made a challenge to everybody and talked to some people on the side and said let’s challenge each other, let’s challenge our position groups, let’s not have any slump, let’s not go backwards from our last day of minicamp, let’s pick up where we left off and let’s keep it going, and I was really impressed with the way guys came back knowledgeable, still knowing the offense. There’s always going to be a little rust on formations and stuff like that, and terminology, but they came back and knew everything and it was really a good starting point for training camp.”

On arm strength as an important part of playing quarterback:

Flynn: “To play quarterback in the NFL, to me, you have to be two things: You have to be smart and you have to be accurate. Things on the field are going to come and you have to be able to do that as well, and I feel very confident in my ability to do that, but overall you have to be smart and accurate.”

On his ability to succeed with the current group of offensive skill players:

Flynn: “I think so. I think Coach Greg Olson is a very talented [offensive] coordinator, he knows what he’s doing. We have a lot of young guys that are very talented, a lot of guys on our team that some people may have never heard of, but they will. They’re talented, they’re hungry, and once we start really clicking as an offense I think we could do some really good things.”

On the fit of his skill set in Olson’s offense:

Flynn: “I think so. In anything that we do, any offense, with any coordinator, like right now we’re installing any play that you could ever possibly run, we’re installing that. When we start game-planning, we start getting stuff that your quarterback will feel more comfortable with. This goes for any offense: If your quarterback doesn’t like a play going into a game week, he tells his coordinator and his coordinator doesn’t call the play. Right now what it’s about is me getting comfortable with certain plays and there are always naturally going to be plays that are more comfortable than others, but we’re throwing it all out there right now and just trying to figure those things out.”

On whether he considers himself a leader of the team:

Flynn: “It’s hard to for me to say, myself. You’d have to kind of ask the other guys about that, but it’s something I hope to become if I’m not [already], but it’s not something I’m going to go out there and desperately try to do and try to be someone I’m not, because when you go out there and try to just be a leader and try to get in guys’ faces right off the bat, it kind of comes off as desperate a little bit, so I’m not going to do that. I’m just going to be me, play my game, and try to inspire these guys the best I know how.”